Dear Daughter

There will always be times in life where you will question the path that you are on and this can be both a good thing, but also a huge distraction. Like if you think you’re doing nothing, but it’s really something! Kidding, no more nothing vs. something. I’m back on my meds.

Anyway, what can make Life Great is staying the course and completing your goal; especially when it’s tough. No one climbs Mount Everest because it’s an easy thing to do, or even because they have to do it. Quite the opposite, they do it because it’s nearly impossible. Well, except for the Sherpas that do it every week and just consider it their commute and try to fake enthusiasm every time an entitled white person gets to the top and feels like they accomplished the impossible, even though the Sherpa carried all their crap all the way up. Sorry, I’m going off on a tangent, better take some meds and stop being a corrupt lobbyist for those entitled Sherpas.

What I wanted to say is that experiencing difficulty in accomplishing your goals will make your sense of accomplishment that much greater. Typically, we don’t celebrate the easy victories. We celebrate the hard won battles. Like me and parenting; it was and remains, extremely difficult and I assume that one day, hopefully soon, that I will feel like I achieved something? That it was all worth it. I hope?

It is from taking on difficult tasks that we learn valuable lessons.  If we completely change course whenever something becomes difficult then those hard lessons might be lost or no longer applicable to the new task and nothing of significance would possibly ever be achieved. I think it’s great to start and fail something, but not quit because it was difficult. However, there are smart reasons to quit or change course. Sometimes we realize that it really was just never the right course for us. A marathon runner has no business in a sprinter’s track and vice versa! It’s just not the right course for them. It is literally physically impossible for either one to successfully compete in the other’s sport! Other times a machine might tell you the right course is to turn right as you’re driving, but you know there’s a lake there, so you should not do it.

So while it is smart to occasionally consider whether you’re on the right course, as any good captain of her life should, do not become overly consumed by it. It will paralyze you, it will stop you in your tracks and prevent you from reaching any destination.

“Sometimes you just have to risk it for the biscuit- you know what I mean Shot?”

Dad